Duterte has no authority to stop COA from performing its mandate, says Lagman

The Commission on Audit is an independent constitutional agency that is not accountable to the president of the country, Albay Representative Edcel Lagman said Tuesday after President Rodrigo Duterte chided the agency in his weekly address.

"President Rodrigo Duterte has no authority to stop the Commission on Audit (COA) from performing its constitutional mandate of safeguarding the utilization of public funds and making public the results of its audit," Lagman said in a statement.

Lagman's remark came after Duterte, on Monday night, slammed COA after it called out the Department of Health over its deficiencies in utilizing P67.32 billion worth of COVID-19 funds. He said COA should stop flagging government agencies.

In his statement, Lagman said Duterte "conveniently forgot" that COA is an independent constitutional commission that is not accountable to the president.

"The right of the people to information cannot be negated and quashed by invoking that officials should be shielded from 'corruption by perception,'" he said.

He said it is COA's obligation to "disclose the sanctionable negligence to utilize public funds and the culpable misuse of the people’s money" whenever a government agency is found to have unspent funds or misspent its budget.

As stated in Sec. 2 (1) Art. IX-D of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, COA shall "have the power, authority, and duty to examine, audit, and settle all accounts pertaining to the revenue and receipts of, and expenditures or uses of funds and property, owned or held in trust by, or pertaining to, the Government, or any of its subdivisions, agencies, or instrumentalities, including government-owned or controlled corporations with original charters, and on a post-audit basis."

"No law shall be passed exempting any entity of the Government or its subsidiary in any guise whatever, or any investment of public funds, from the jurisdiction of the Commission on Audit," the Constitution also states.

Among the principal duties of the COA is the submission of annual reports to the President and the Congress on the financial condition and operation of the government.

Lagman said Duterte should instead order the prosecution of the responsible officials of the agencies flagged by COA and accord them due process. He pointed out that COA reports are "thoroughly reviewed and documented."

In his late Monday night public briefing, Duterte said it was "bulls—t" to think that the P67.3 billion set aside for the campaign against COVID-19 had been stolen.

He said the audit document lacked enough data especially about government work that was still ongoing.   —KBK, GMA News